Archived news and commentary: May 15 - 21, 2006

2006/05/15 - 2006/05/21
2006/05/08 - 2006/05/14
2006/05/01 - 2006/05/07
2006/04/24 - 2006/04/30
2006/04/17 - 2006/04/23
2006/04/10 - 2006/04/16

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, May 21, 2006

News and commentary:

"Bomb plot foiled: Palestinian security" (Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2006/05/21)
"GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian security forces said on Sunday they had foiled an attempt to kill a top commander to President Mahmoud Abbas, a day after another of his allies was wounded in a suspected assassination bid.
A Palestinian security officer said a bomb weighing 70 kg (154 lbs) was found outside the Gaza Strip home of Rashid Abu Shbak, a member of Abbas's
Fatah movement who is in charge of several branches of the Palestinian security services.
The discovery comes amid surging tensions between Fatah, the long-dominant Palestinian faction, and Hamas, an Islamic militant movement that defeated Fatah in elections in January.
In recent days, Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government, has deployed its own 3,000-strong force on the streets of Gaza, setting up a showdown with the Palestinian police force, which largely remains loyal to Fatah.
Low-level skirmishes between the rival parties have given rise to fears of a civil war among Palestinian groups, which include not only Hamas and Fatah, but breakaway factions of both movements and the staunchly militant group Islamic Jihad.
The discovery of the bomb followed an explosion in Gaza on Saturday that badly wounded Palestinian intelligence chief Tareq Abu Rajab, another Abbas ally. Abbas called the attack an attempted assassination. An aide to Rajab was killed."

"Dutch Courage" (Daniel Schwammenthal, OpinionJournal, 2006/05/21)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Many of her countrymen would like nothing more than to believe that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is leaving the Netherlands because she was caught in a lie. But this would be the biggest lie in this whole affair. The Somali-born politician is leaving--no, fleeing--her adopted homeland because the Netherlands and much of Europe prefer a traditional Muslim woman who keeps her mouth shut over one who objects to Islamic intolerance. Ms. Hirsi Ali could take the threats against her own life. But she could no longer take being abandoned by the Dutch simply for fighting for the values they taught her but now lack the courage to defend. ...
Nearly half of her countrymen want her stripped of her citizenship. They have succumbed to the dangerous illusion that if only she were to go away, all the problems of radical Islam would go away with her. Ms. Hirsi Ali offered a final warning on that score this week. "I am . . . preparing to leave Holland," Ms. Hirsi Ali told reporters. "But the questions for our society remain. The future of Islam in our country, the subjugation of women in Islamic culture; the integration of the many Muslims in the West: It is self-deceit to imagine that these issues will disappear." ...
Ms. Hirsi Ali might be the first, but won't be the last, post-9/11 dissident to seek refuge in the land of the brave and the free. And so, any recovery of property prices in Ms. Hirsi Ali's neighborhood will be short-lived. Where the defenders of democracy have to flee while the enemies of free society roam the streets, not only real estate is bound to become very cheap. So will be life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

"This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)" (Nina Shea, The Washington Post, 2006/05/21)
"A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels").
This indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to "spread the faith." ...
The 10th-grade text on jurisprudence teaches that life for non-Muslims (as well as women, and, by implication, slaves) is worth a fraction of that of a "free Muslim male." Blood money is retribution paid to the victim or the victim's heirs for murder or injury:
"Blood money for a free infidel. [Its quantity] is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, whether or not he is 'of the book' or not 'of the book' (such as a pagan, Zoroastrian, etc.).
'Blood money for a woman: Half of the blood money for a man, in accordance with his religion. The blood money for a Muslim woman is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, and the blood money for an infidel woman is half of the blood money for a male infidel.'"

"Reunited: boys saved from slavers" (Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times, 2006/05/21)
"A SENIOR member of an Islamic organisation linked to Al-Qaeda is funding his activities through the kidnapping of Christian children who are sold into slavery in Pakistan.
The Sunday Times has established that Gul Khan, a wealthy militant who uses the base of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD) near Lahore, is behind a cruel trade in boys aged six to 12.
They are abducted from remote Christian villages in the Punjab and fetch nearly £1,000 each from buyers who consign them to a life of misery in domestic servitude or in the sex trade.
Khan was exposed in a sting organised by American and Pakistani missionaries who decided to save 20 such boys and return them to their homes. Using a secret camera, they filmed him accepting $28,500 (£15,000) from a Pakistani missionary posing as a businessman who said he wanted to set up an operation in which the boys would beg for cash on the streets. ...
The boys were eventually freed in a dishevelled and malnourished state after being locked in a room for five months during which they suffered frequent beatings."

Saturday, May 20, 2006

News and commentary:

"Iraq Swears in Cabinet After 5 Months" (Patrick Quinn, AP/Yahoo! News, 2006/05/20)
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - After five months of often bitter wrangling over Cabinet posts, Iraq's unity government took office Saturday and vowed to fight the insurgency, restore stability and set the stage for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops. ...
President Bush, who is facing rising criticism at home over Iraq, welcomed the new Cabinet and promised continued U.S. help.
"The United States and freedom-loving nations around the world will stand with Iraq as it takes its place among the world's democracies and as an ally in the war on terror," Bush said in a statement. ...
As the Cabinet was sworn in, at least 33 people were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq, and police found the bodies of 22 Iraqis who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured by death squads that plague the capital and other areas.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the others on the 40-member Cabinet took the oath of office inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, where American and Iraqi troops provide security from the turmoil sweeping the country.
After a two-hour delay, reportedly because of last-minute wrangling over some Cabinet posts, legislators dressed in suits or traditional Arab robes slowly filed into the parliament chamber. Outgoing members of the interim legislature greeted each other with kisses to the cheeks.
The vote of approval went quickly, with parliament members elected in Dec. 15 elections waving raised hands to ratify al-Maliki's nominees one by one."

Friday, May 19, 2006

News and commentary:

"Hamas spokesman caught smuggling cash as tensions rise" (Philippe Naughton, The Times, 2006/05/19)
"Hamas gunmen reportedly rushed to a Gaza border crossing today after a spokesman for the ruling Palestinian faction was caught trying to smuggle more than £400,000 into the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
The development raised fears of fresh clashes between Hamas-appointed militia and the Palestinian police force loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Two police officers and a Hamas paramilitary were injured late last night in Gaza City as a stand-off between the two forces descended into gun fights.
"Sami Abu Zuhri tried to cross with 639,000 euros (£433,000), which has been confiscated by the Palestinian customs authorities," said Julio de la Guardia, a spokesman for the EU observation force at the Rafah terminal.
"Sami Abu Zuhri did not declare the money. The Palestinian security and customs officials found it and confiscated it," the spokesman added.
A senior Palestinian official at the border crossing said that the Hamas spokesman was detained for questioning at the terminal after being found with the money stashed inside a belt, en route from Egypt back to the Gaza Strip.
Reuters reported that Hamas gunmen immediately rushed to the Rafah terminal, which is guarded by Mr Abbas's presidential guard, and said that Mr Abu Zuhri was refusing to leave the border terminal without the money."

"Sweden's Unholy Alliance" (Nima Sanandaji, FrontPageMagazine, 2006/05/19)
"Recently, Atef Adwan, the minister of refugees of the Palestinian Hamas government, gave a speech in Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden. The speech was delivered during the fourth international conference, concerning the right of Palestinian refugees to return to a free Palestine. According to the Swedish daily paper Sydsvenskan, Adwan made the following remark: “By allowing me to travel here the Swedish government is sending a clear message to our people that somebody is at our side.”
Perhaps he is right. That a representative of the Hamas terrorist organization chose to begin his European tour by visiting Sweden, and that he was given a visa to do so, is telling of the soft mentality among European socialist governments towards terrorism. Swedish politics is full of similar examples. Two members of the Swedish Parliament have recently attempted to invite the group leader of Hamas, Salah Mohammed al-Bardawil, to the Swedish Parliament. The fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization with the blood of innocent civilians on its hands does not seem to bother the politicians too much.
Indeed, as the September elections draw closer, it seems as if the Swedish left are openly embracing radical Islamic groups. Recently, Swedish public television revealed that the leading Social Democratic party has started fishing for votes with the help of radical Muslims clergies." (See also: "Hamas minister thanks Sweden for visa" (The Local, 2006/05/06))

"Iranian Lawmakers Debate Women's Clothing" (Tarek Al-Issawi, AP/The Washington Post, 2006/05/19)
Iran III. Note that it seems that the badge-part of the bill is a hoax:
"In Tehran, legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament's cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.
"It's a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless," he said.
Afroogh said the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. ...
"The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing," he said. "Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill," he said.
Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: 'Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.'"

"A colour code for Iran's 'infidels'" (Amir Taheri, National Post, 2006/05/19)
Iran II: "The law mandates the government to make sure that all Iranians wear "standard Islamic garments" designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions reflected in clothing, and to eliminate "the influence of the infidel" on the way Iranians, especially, the young dress. It also envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct colour schemes to make them identifiable in public. The new codes would enable Muslims to easily recognize non-Muslims so that they can avoid shaking hands with them by mistake, and thus becoming najis (unclean). ...
According to Ahmadinejad, the new Islamic uniforms will establish "visual equality" for Iranians as they prepare for the return of the Hidden Imam. ...
The new law imposes a total ban on wearing neckties and bow-ties which are regarded as "symbols of the Cross." Will Iranian Christians be allowed to wear them, nevertheless? No one knows. ...
What is already labelled "the Islamic clothes revolution" will not be limited to Iran. Tehran has already sent a team to Lebanon to inform the Hezbollah of the new law and train cadres to impose it on Lebanese Shiites.
"Our aim is to make sure that every Muslim, wherever he or she happens to be on this Earth, is a living and walking symbol of Islam," says Pourharandi."

"Iran eyes badges for Jews: Law would require non-Muslim insignia" (Chris Wattie, National Post, 2006/05/19)
Iran I: "Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."
Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."
The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.
Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.
"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. 'It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this.'"

Thursday, May 18, 2006

News and commentary:

"10,000 march in Turkey to denounce Islamic gunman's attack on judges" (Selcan Hacaoglu, The Canadian Press/Yahoo! News, 2006/05/18)
"ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - More than 10,000 Turks, including judges and lawyers, marched in the capital on Thursday to condemn an attack by a suspected Islamic gunman that killed one judge and wounded four others.
The gunman, who opened fire on the judges inside Turkey's highest administrative court on Wednesday, allegedly said his attack was retaliation for a recent ruling against a teacher who wore an Islamic-style head scarf, officials said. Police captured the gunman after the attack and on Thursday detained two people, whom the suspect called on the day of the attack, for questioning.
The attack caused outrage across Turkey. Judicial officials and secular Turks carrying Turkish flags marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern and secular Turkey, in a show of loyalty to secularism on Thursday.
They laid a wrath decorated with red and white carnations, the colours of the Turkish flag. ...
"This is the Sept. 11 of the Turkish Republic," wrote Ertugrul Ozkok, chief columnist of Turkey's leading newspaper Hurriyet on Thursday." (See also: "Judge shot dead after blocking promotion of teacher who wore Muslim headscarf" (Suna Erdem, The Times, 2006/05/18))

"Germans negative on Islam, poll shows" (Expatica, 2006/05/18)
"BERLIN - Germans are growing increasingly negative over Islam and concern is rising over the country's Muslim minority, a recently released poll shows.
"If one looks at this from a pessimistic viewpoint it could be seen as the start of a downward spiral toward conflict," said the Allensbach polling agency who conducted the survey for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
Asked if they though Christianity and Islamic could co-exist peacefully, 61 per cent of those surveyed said they believed there would always be "major conflicts" between both faiths.
Some 91 per cent said they associated Islam with oppression of women, up from 85 per cent in 2004.
The statement that Islam was dominated by fanaticism was shared by 83 per cent, compared to 75 per cent two years ago, the poll showed.
A total of 71 per cent said Islam was intolerant, up from 66 per cent in 2004. ...
"The clash of civilizations has already begun in the minds of (German) citizens," concluded the Allensbach Institute.
There are about 3.5 million Muslims living in Germany out of a total population of 82 million. Turks are the biggest minority and number about 2.5 million."

"Somali-born Dutch lawmaker welcome in US: Zoellick" (Reuters, 2006/05/18)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali II: "A Somali-born lawmaker who may lose her Dutch citizenship because she lied on her asylum application is welcome to move to the United States, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said on Thursday.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of Islam, said earlier this week she was resigning and leaving the Netherlands after Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, a member of her own VVD liberal party, told her she might lose her Dutch passport.
Hirsi Ali has been offered a job by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank, and according to media reports had been in negotiations with two other U.S. institutes.
Zoellick, on a visit to the Netherlands, told journalists Hirsi Ali would be admitted to his country.
"The government of the Netherlands is still discussing her ultimate status and that is ... for the Netherlands to determine along the way, but she is obviously welcome to the United States," Zoellick said.
He added that if she did move to the United States her status would depend on decisions taken by the Dutch government and that her special security needs would be attended to.
"I am not going to comment on specific security matters but obviously she needs to be taken care of," Zoellick said."

"Holland's Cassandra" (Robert Spencer, FrontPageMagazine, 2006/05/18)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali I: "Why is Verdonk acting against her now? Hirsi Ali admitted that she lied in 2002, before she became a candidate for Parliament. Her party, of which Verdonk is a member, had no problem with it at the time. That Verdonk suddenly decided four years later that the lies were intolerable bespeaks her zeal not for stringent immigration policies but for a way to rule Hirsi Ali’s politics out of the Dutch public discourse. ...
The fact that an adjusted granting of asylum is not under consideration unmasks Verdonk and her allies as craven, short-sighted political opportunists bent only on the destruction of a Cassandra who has told them too many unpleasant truths. Nasr Joemman of the Contact Organization for Muslims and Government (CMO) stated this plainly: “I celebrate that she is leaving the Netherlands. I hope that by her departure we can move forward with building a harmonious society.” ...
On Wednesday morning many Dutch MP’s forced Verdonk to reconsider her decision, but it is unlikely in any case that Hirsi Ali will remain in the Netherlands. Verdonk and Joemman will be free to build their “harmonious society.” What kind of a society will it be? The hounding and persecution of Hirsi Ali do not bode well. ...
Europe’s loss is America’s gain, but this is no occasion for rejoicing by Americans; Hirsi Ali’s ejection from Holland will before too long be seen as one significant step closer to the extinguishing of the light not only in that country, but in all of Europe."

"Judge shot dead after blocking promotion of teacher who wore Muslim headscarf" (Suna Erdem, The Times, 2006/05/18)
"A SENIOR judge died yesterday after a lawyer opened fire in Turkey’s highest administrative court. He was apparently protesting against a ruling on the Muslim headscarf, which is barred from many places in the secular country.
The attacker chanted, “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) and Islamist slogans as he sprayed bullets across the courtroom, wounding five of the six people present before he was arrested by police guards.
It is thought that the attack in the centre of the capital, Ankara, was in protest at a decision not to promote a primary school headmistress who wore a Muslim headscarf on her way to work.
“He came in shouting, ‘I am the soldier of Allah’,” said Tansel Colasan, the court’s deputy chairwoman. “He said he decided to act because of the headscarf ruling.”
An investigation is under way into how Alparslan Arslan, 29, an Islamist lawyer, was able to smuggle the Glock automatic weapon past the X-ray machine at the entrance to the court building.
Those wounded in the Council of State’s second chamber included Mustafa Birden, its chairman. Another victim, Mustafa Ozbilgin, died in hospital from head wounds."

Added today:
"Islamist Threats To Dutch Politician Bring Chill at Home" (Andrew Higgins, The Wall Street Journal, 2006/05/17)
"How Europe unwittingly fuels bloodshed in Israel" (Daniel Hannan, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/05/17)
"Gays flee as religious militias sentence them all to death" (Daniel McGrory, The Times, 2006/05/17)
"U.S. Linguist Noam Chomsky Meets With Hizbullah Leaders in Lebanon" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1165, 2006/05/16)
"Saudi king to papers: Stop showing photos of women" (AP/The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/16)
"Beer bombers set tone for Islamist Baghdad" (Ibon Villelabeitia and Omar al-Ibadi, Reuters, 2006/05/16)

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

News and commentary:

"MPs order Verdonk to reconsider Hirsi Ali's status" (Expatica, 2006/05/17)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali III: "Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk was compelled in the early hours of Wednesday morning to reconsider whether Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen.
A majority of the political parties in parliament backed two motions on the issue. One calls on Verdonk to reconsider within six weeks whether Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen. The second instructs the Minister to grant Hirsi Ali accelerated naturalisation if she finds she is not a citizen of the Netherlands.
During eleven hours of debate on Tuesday, Verdonk parried criticism from parties on both the left and right of the political spectrum about her treatment of former Liberal MP Hirsi Ali."

"Islamist Threats To Dutch Politician Bring Chill at Home" (Andrew Higgins, The Wall Street Journal, 2006/05/17)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali II: "'She spits in the face of all Muslims,' says Jan Schoonenboom, the head of a government-sponsored research project on Islam. He says he regrets the eviction campaign but says she's partly to blame for stirring Muslim anger. In April, his think tank, the Scientific Council for Government Policy, issued a report that found no fundamental clash between Islamic and Western values and condemned a "climate of confrontation and stereotypical thinking." The Council, which helps set Dutch policy, urged Holland and other European countries to reach out to Islamist groups abroad that have been involved in terrorism, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
"They're just sticking their heads in the sand," responds Ms. Hirsi Ali, who dismisses the report as a "political pamphlet to suit the dreams of people who want to believe there is not a problem."
Across Europe, dozens of people are now in hiding or under police protection because of threats from Muslim extremists. Dutch police say politicians reported 121 death threats last year. The number this year will likely be much higher. Geert Wilders, a right-wing member of parliament who also lives in a high-security apartment owned by the state, says he has received 120 menacing emails and letters since January. One of the latest reads: 'Oh you cursed infidel! Don't think you are safe from our mighty organization....It is our wish to kill you by decapitation. Your infidel blood will flow freely on cursed Dutch streets!'" (Hat tip: Paul Belien.)

"Betrayal of the 'brown memsahib'" (Magnus Linklater, The Times, 2006/05/17)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali I: "This is a sad day in the history of liberal democracy, a stain on the reputation of a once-tolerant country and a setback for the reputation of Islam itself, cementing the impression that is simply not open to criticism. In particular, it lets down Muslim women, who are still being subjected to forced marriages. The debate about its role in Western society is one of the most urgent and complex that confronts us today — only this week, the Government launched an attempt to find a frame of traditional British values that could encompass young Muslim opinion. At the very least, therefore, we should be free to hear all strands of opinion, however challenging they may be.
Ms Hirsi Ali’s penetrating analysis of religion and society in Muslim countries should be answered, not ignored. This is not just a matter of a novel satirising the Prophet, or a few insulting cartoons; hers is a sustained and clear-sighted critique of Islam, from someone who has experienced its restrictions and believes that there is a reasonable case to be made against it. A country that turns its back on those views reveals itself, not only as illiberal, but one that has lost confidence in the resilience of its own democracy."

"How Europe unwittingly fuels bloodshed in Israel" (Daniel Hannan, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/05/17)
"It is, even by Brussels standards, an odd decision. The EU is to resume its subventions to the Palestinian Authority (PA) - despite having recently passed a series of laws against financing terrorism, and despite the fact that Hamas, which runs the PA, is on its own list of designated terrorist organisations. ...
Even if a way could be found to circumvent Hamas, the very fact of pumping more money into the Occupied Territories will make terrorism more likely. Palestinians are already, by some measure, the largest per capita recipients of overseas aid in the world. Yet the level of violence in Gaza and the West Bank has risen in proportion to the amount of assistance received.
When Hamas was elected earlier this year, the EU brushed aside American objections and handed over 120 million euros. Palestinians responded by ransacking EU diplomatic missions and kidnapping European citizens. But the EU is less interested in the practical consequences of its subsidies than in the message they send. By firehosing cash at the PA, Europeans signal their opposition to Washington, suck up to their Muslim voters and, above all, vent their dislike of Israel." (See also: "Why bail Hamas out?" (Barry Rubin, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/15))

"'Arafat used aid to buy weapons'" (Yaakov Katz, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/17)
"Yasser Arafat transferred millions of dollars in international aid and taxes transferred to the Palestinian Authority by Israel to purchase large quantities of weapons, the PA chairman's former financial aide, Fuad Shubaki, has told the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). Some of the Israeli money, Shubaki told his investigators, was also used to fund Palestinian terror groups.
Shubaki was apprehended two months ago during an IDF raid on the Jericho prison where he was being held together with Ahmed Sa'adat - leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - and the other assassins of former Israeli tourism minister Rehavan Ze'evi. Prior to his imprisonment in Jericho, Shubaki served as the chief financial officer for the Palestinian security forces and as such was the mastermind behind the Karine A weapons ship caught by the IDF loaded with advanced weaponry in the Red Sea in 2002 as it was making its way to the Gaza Strip.
Under Arafat's direction, Shubaki, 64, told his interrogators, high-ranking PA security officials were involved in manufacturing and purchasing weapons in addition to funding terror groups in their war against Israel.
Shubaki estimated that $7-10 million were used every two years to purchase arms for the Gaza Strip, and another $2 million were spent on weapons for the West Bank. The money, he said, came from international aid to the PA, tax money Israel routinely transferred to the PA and taxes collected in the Gaza Strip. Shubaki confessed to involvement in the purchasing of weapons for the head of the Tanzim terror group in Gaza, used in attacks against military installations and Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip."'

"Gays flee as religious militias sentence them all to death" (Daniel McGrory, The Times, 2006/05/17)
"The death threat was delivered to Karazan’s father early in the morning by a masked man wearing a police uniform.
The scribbled note was brief. Karazan had to die because he was gay. In the new Baghdad, his sexuality warranted execution by the religious militias.
The father was told that if he did not hand his son over, other family members would be killed.
What scares the city’s residents is how the fanatics’ list of enemies is growing. It includes girls who refuse to cover their hair, boys who wear theirs too long, booksellers, liberal professors and prostitutes. Three shops known to sell alcohol were bombed yesterday in the Karrada shopping district.
In this atmosphere of intolerance and intimidation, the militias have made no secret of their hatred of homosexuals. ...
With his skin-tight clothes and long blonde hair, Karazan, a 23-year-old arts student, stood out in the Shia neighbourhood of al-Dura. He told The Times: “A number of my gay friends have been murdered, so I took this warning seriously.” The family fled this month to a suburb north of the city centre.
Karazan cut his hair short and dyed it black, but he is still too frightened to venture out. His partner is in the Iraqi Army. With little money and no valid passport, he does not know how he can flee abroad." (See also: "Beer bombers set tone for Islamist Baghdad" (Ibon Villelabeitia and Omar al-Ibadi, Reuters, 2006/05/16))

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

News and commentary:

"Somali-born member of the Dutch parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali..."
(Rob Keeris, AP, 2006/05/16)
"Somali-born member of the Dutch parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali, attends a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, May 16, 2006. Ayaan said she will resign after the country's Immigration Ministry said she was improperly granted citizenship in 1997." Hirsi Ali falsified her name and date of birth on her asylum application when she arrived in 1992, fearing reprisals from her family after she fled an arranged marriage."

"Press release Hirsi Ali" (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl, 2006/05/16)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali V: "It is common knowledge that threats against my life began building up ever since I first talked about Islam publicly, in the spring of 2002. Months before I even entered politics, my freedom of movement was greatly curtailed, and that became worse after Theo van Gogh was murdered in 2004. I have been obliged to move house so many times I have lost count. The direct cause for the ending of my membership in parliament is that on April 27 of this year, a Dutch court ruled that I must once again leave my home, because my neighbors filed a complaint that they could not feel safe living next to me. The Dutch government will appeal this verdict and I grateful for that, because how on earth will other people whose lives are threatened manage to find a place to stay if this verdict is allowed to rest? However, this appeal does not alter my situation: I have to leave my apartment by the end of August. ...
It is difficult to work as a parliamentarian if you have nowhere to live. All that is difficult, but not impossible. It has become impossible since last night, when Minister Verdonk informed me that she would strip me of my Dutch citizenship.
I am therefore preparing to leave Holland. But the questions for our society remain. The future of Islam in our country; the subjugation of women in Islamic culture; the integration of the many Muslims in the West: it is self-deceit to imagine that these issues will disappear."

"On n'arrete pas un Voltaire" (Leon de Winter, The Free West, 2006/05/16)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali IV: "In May '68, during the Paris riots, the French police planned to arrest Jean-Paul Sartre.
When De Gaulle was informed about the plan, he reacted: 'On n'arrete pas un Voltaire.'
One does not arrest a Voltaire.
One does not strip a Voltaire from his citizenship." (Hat tip: Pieter Dorsman.)

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Press Conference" (Michael Galien, Liberty and Justice, 2006/05/16)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali III. Michael Galien has lots of updates and links: "Ayaan Hirsi Ali just gave her press conference. It was broadcasted / aired live on Dutch television.
Ayaan entered the press room and looked incredibly sad, she was quite emotional during her speech.
In a couple of minutes I will be able to publish the transcript of her speech in Dutch from the VVD site; I don't know whether it will be translated into English, or whether I must translate it myself.
To kick it off a quote from Bibi de Vries; vice-president of the VVD party in the Lower Chamber of Parliament:
If anything happens to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, there will be people in this Party with blood on their hands."

"The Stoning of Ayaan Hirsi Ali" (Okke Ornstein, Ornstein op Afstand, 2006/05/16)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali II: "It used to be that, when asked about Dutch tolerance and open society, I'd use Ayaan Hirsi Ali as an example. "Holland is a country," I would proudly explain, "where a Somali refugee is given asylum, becomes a member of parliament and develops into one of the most influential people in the world."
Today, Ayaan Hirsi Ali announced that she'd leave parliament and the Netherlands immediately. She's being chased out by a political lynch mob of mediocre right wingers who have stripped her of her Dutch citizenship. No less mediocre "journalists" had started the fire by producing a "documentary" that revealed nothing new, and the news it revealed has turned out to be false. The details are complicated yet nothing new. Everybody knew for years that Hirsi Ali had lied about her identity, and she least of all had made a secret of it. But lynch mobs generally are not to be bothered by facts. Ayaan should hang, so she hangs.
So that ends that. No more tolerance and open society in the Netherlands. They've all gone mad, it's like watching a woman being stoned in Somalia. Yesterday, a poll showed overwhelming popular support for taking away Dutch citizenship from the MP who lives under constant police protection. Holland used to be a safe haven for freethinkers, refugees, the persecuted. Not any more."

"A Critic of Muslim Intolerance Faces Loss of Dutch Citizenship" (Marlise Simons, The New York Times, 2006/05/16)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali I: "The Dutch government on Monday abruptly threatened to revoke the citizenship of one of the country's most prominent members of Parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born woman who arrived as a refugee 14 years ago.
The minister of immigration, Rita Verdonk, said Ms. Hirsi Ali had provided inaccurate information when applying for political asylum in 1992 and seeking Dutch citizenship in 1997. As a result, the minister said, both applications were invalid. Ms. Hirsi Ali has been given six weeks to respond. ...
"I'm speechless," Ms. Hirsi Ali said in a telephone interview from The Hague after she had received a call from Ms. Verdonk on Monday night. . Ms. Hirsi Ali said she considered the move to take away her citizenship, leaving her stateless, as an attempt to silence her. "I have been fully committed to my work in Parliament, and I have taken many risks," she said. 'This will make others think harder before they speak out.'"

"U.S. Linguist Noam Chomsky Meets With Hizbullah Leaders in Lebanon" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1165, 2006/05/16)
"According to Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV network, Professor Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) visited Hizbullah headquarters this week, meeting with the organization's secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut suburb as well as with other Hizbullah leaders. ...
The following are excerpts from a report on Lebanese New TV about a meeting in Lebanon between American linguist Prof. Noam Chomsky and Hizbullah leaders.
Anchor: "The leftist Jewish American intellectual Noam Chomsky toured Al-Khiyam Prison at the end of his visit to Lebanon. He declared that the victory achieved by the resistance is a victory for all the peoples that fight injustice and oppression."
Reporter: "'Umm Kamel' - the Israeli [MK] spying aircraft - was the first to welcome leftist Jewish American intellectual Noam Chomsky, in his visit to Al-Khiyam Prison. Chomsky chose to provide 'Umm Kamel' with the pictures most detestable from the Israeli perspective, by smiling and shaking hands with Hizbullah's leader in South Lebanon, Nabil Qauq. ...
Reporter: ''Umm Kamel' got a picture of another Chomsky smile, when Qauq presented him with a picture commemorating the liberation. This time, Chomsky accompanied his smile with the hope to meet in the future in the Shab'a Farms after their liberation.'"

"Saudi king to papers: Stop showing photos of women" (AP/The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/16)
King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday.
The king's directive, made in a meeting with local editors, caused surprise as the monarch has been regarded a quiet reformer since he took office in the ultra-conservative country last August.
In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women, always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf, to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia, such as women having the right to drive and vote.
The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman's picture for the world to see was inappropriate.
"One must think: do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this," the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying.
"The youth are driven by emotion ... and sometimes they can be led astray. So, please, try to cut down on this," he said."

"Beer bombers set tone for Islamist Baghdad" (Ibon Villelabeitia and Omar al-Ibadi, Reuters, 2006/05/16)
"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Leaflets threaten women who do not wear veils. Militias bomb and burn beer shops and music stores at dawn. Rumors swirl of men shot... for wearing shorts.
Hopes for secular democracy in Iraq three years after U.S. forces invaded are being challenged by militants seeking to impose their own strict version of Islamic sharia law on the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
In the latest attack against alcohol sellers in Baghdad, bombs on Tuesday damaged three shops that sold beer and other liquor in the central commercial district of Karrada. ...
In Baghdad, known under the secular rule of Saddam Hussein for its nightlife and liberal social culture, unconfirmed tales circulate about young men who have been shot for wearing shorts.
Leaflets threatening punishment for such behavior -- and also ordering women not to drive cars -- circulated in Amriya this month. But police deny anyone has been killed as a result.
Whether stories of such killings are true or not, one thing is certain: Fear is driving many alcohol sellers to close and more women are following conservative dress codes.
Said Faris Shamoon, 49, whose beer shop was bombed on Tuesday: 'I will shut the shop and leave the country to those who claim they are Islamists. Islam should not hurt others.'"

"Aksa Brigades threatens US, Europe" (Khaled Abu Toameh, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/16)
"The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, on Monday threatened to strike at US and European interests in response to international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority. ...
"We won't remain idle in the face of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel, the US and other countries," said a leaflet issued by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip. "We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries, here and abroad."
The leaflet added: "Let the entire world know that we won't succumb in the face of the policy of blackmail, siege and starvation. In the past we did not capitulate in the face of the policy of assassinations, detentions and air raids." ...
Another armed group affiliated with Fatah, the Abu Rish Brigades, threatened to launch a new intifada unless the international community agreed to fund the PA. "This will be a merciless intifada that will destroy everything," said Abu Haroon, a spokesman for the group in the Gaza Strip.
"We will plan and carry out more martyrdom attacks inside the Green Line regardless of the price and effort," he warned. 'Those who are imposing the sanctions on the Palestinians will soon regret their decision.'" (See also: "Why bail Hamas out?" (Barry Rubin, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/15))

"Universities face review of Islam course: Ministers fear terrorism is condoned" (James Reed, Yorkshire Post, 2006/05/16)
"YOUNG Muslim students at some British universities are being exposed to radical teaching that explicitly condones terrorism, a senior Minister warned yesterday.
Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell ordered an urgent review of university Islamic courses after claiming there was evidence that "narrow and unhelpful" interpretations of Islam were available to "many" young people.
He admitted there was worry at the highest levels of Government about the effect such teaching could have in the wake of last year's suicide bombings in London.
Mr Rammell's intervention comes after a report by an academic at Brunel University published last year claimed extremist groups, including the British National Party, had been found active at 24 universities.
The study has since come under sustained criticism but yesterday Mr Rammell demanded an improvement in the way Islam is taught at higher education level.
He said: "There are weaknesses in the way young Muslims are educated about what their faith really requires.
"There is a concern that the teachings which the great majority of Muslims would want to stress about living in peace, protecting the vulnerable, avoiding harm to others, are sometimes sidelined.
"There is reason to think that in some cases students are being exposed, more than any of us would like, to wrong-headed influences, under the name of religion.
"In particular, exposed to teachings that either explicitly condone terrorism, or foster a climate of opinion which is at least sympathetic to terrorists' motivation."
'I am worried about this, so are colleagues in Government, so above all are Muslims that I have spoken to.'" (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

Monday, May 15, 2006

News and commentary:

"Submission in the Netherlands" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2006/05/15)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali III: "The Netherlands appears to be in the throes of a pathological moral convulsion. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the immensely courageous Dutch MP of Somalian origin who is guarded day and night because of the threat to her life from Islamist terrorists, is being hounded out of the country – by the hostility of the Dutch, who far from protecting her have now turned against her. Tomorrow, she is due to hold a press conference at which she will announce her resignation from the Dutch parliament and her intention to leave the country (although stories circulating today about a move to the US would appear to be premature). ...
Yet instead of being cherished as a national heroine, she is being broken and bullied out of the country by an unholy alliance of venomous leftists, spineless public servants -- including those of a highly conservative disposition -- and radical Islamists, all giving a victory to the forces of evil. ...
Never mind that she is defending the country’s integrity against the forces of barbarism; they’d rather surrender to them. The word for this is indeed submission.
So she is being used as the classic scapegoat. Drive out Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and they will drive out (or so they think) the threat of the jihad. Thus the authentic voice of appeasement; thus courage is punished and resistance abandoned; thus the murdered Theo van Gogh is doubly betrayed. A shocked friend of Ms Hirsi Ali says that the mood in the Netherlands today reflects a thirst for a public hanging. But this public anger is being funnelled not at the clerical fascism that has caused Dutch public figures to be guarded day and night against the threat of murder, but at one of those very figures. Thus the victim of violence is turned into its cause, and her institutionalised lynching will purge the terror from the people.
It is a mindset as medieval as it is misguided. Shame on them."

"Ayaan Not Dutch; According To Dutch Minister" (Michael Galien, Liberty and Justice, 2006/05/15)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali II: "NOS Journaal reports:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali received her Dutch passport on false grounds. This wrote minister Verdonk in a letter to the VVD-MP.
[...]
The definitive results (re: of the investigation) will come later, but on the basis of the broadcast of the tv-show Zembla and the "now known facts", Hirsi Ali is "considered as not having reveived the Dutch nationality" according to Verdonk.
[...]
Not having a Dutch passport will mean that Hirsi Ali is falsely a member of Parliament. Hirsi Ali has six weeks to (go in) appeal to the letter from Verdonk.

I don't know what to say about this. I feared this would happen, but thought that there was only a slim chance that Verdonk would take away Ayaan's Dutch nationality (not having received the Dutch nationality means she has her passport illegally; right now, she is not considered Dutch.
This will have a huge impact on Ayaan. If this will turn out to be the definitive decision from Verdonk, she will also have big difficulties moving to the U.S.
To my major disappointment:
The Dutch population does not seem to regret her leaving the Netherlands either. Almost 3/4 of the Dutch does not consider her leaving (re: the Netherlands) Dutch politics as a loss.
My God."

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali Heading To The US" (Michael Galien, Liberty and Justice, 2006/05/15)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali I. Via Robert Spencer: "So much the worse for Holland and Europe, so much the better for the U.S.":
"NOS Journaal reports:

In The Hague is expected that Ayaan Hirsi Ali will leave. De Volkskrant (re: Dutch newspaper) reports she will start working at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank in Washington. Agreements about her personal security would already been made.
[...]
She was expected to go to the US in May 2007, but because she must leave her house, that has been advanced. Hirsi Ali wants to finish her book "een korte weg naar de verlichting" (re: a short road / path to the enlightenment).

According to De Volkskrant she will she will leave to the US September 1, 2006.
Exactly what I was afraid of. She will be welcomed into the US and she will get the respect she deserves there, but it is a crying shame that we force people like her to leave our country.
Do we, finally, have someone who defends our freedom of speech, even putting her life on the line, we force her to leave our country and move to the US. It is making me all sick." (See also: "Hirsi Ali, The Hunted" (Peaktalk, 2006/04/27))

"Why bail Hamas out?" (Barry Rubin, The Jerusalem Post, 2006/05/15)
"Something about the Middle East makes people dopey. The latest example of this phenomenon is the plan, apparently endorsed by EU countries, to pay Palestinian Authority employees out of their own taxpayers' money. ...
Among the real civil servants taking regular salaries from Western donations would be teachers, officials and clerics who tell their students how Israel and the West are demonic; who incite or even facilitate terrorism; and who advocate genocide. ...
The European plan would ensure that continued extremism is cost-free. It would also show radical Islamists in Jordan, Egypt and elsewhere that they can take power, reject moderation, and still not face any real Western pressure.
Vladimir Lenin, the communist revolutionary and dictator, liked to say the bourgeoisie was so dumb that it would sell the rope to hang itself with. Yet even he did not expect that those he intended to destroy would pay for the rope themselves. ...
The idea that the West should subsidize, directly or indirectly, a radical Islamist, innately anti-American, anti-Semitic and genocidal-oriented Hamas regime is crazy. Why should anyone - much less any country - take such a notion seriously?"

 

Copyright © Watch 2001-2006.
Copyrights of quoted materials belong to their respective owners.

"When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. The term is not a slur; it is a technical label."

Jacques Barzun

Articles of the week

"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)

"Allah’s England?" (Daniel Johnson, Commentary. November 2006)

"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)

"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)

"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)

› AOTW Archive



From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)

"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)

Weekly archive

2006/12/04 - 2006/12/10
2006/11/27 - 2006/12/03
2006/11/20 - 2006/11/26
2006/11/13 - 2006/11/19
2006/11/06 - 2006/11/12
2006/10/30 - 2006/11/05

› From 2001/09/11 -



Monthly index

December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006

› From September 2001 -



Author index

› Ajami, Fouad - Johnson, Paul
› Kagan, Robert - Ye'or, Bat



Support Watch

Please feel free to donate if you enjoy the daily content and links Watch provides:

Contact Watch

Email:
watch-at-windsofchange.net